


The Reunion

by OnTheRoadSoFar



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28433550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnTheRoadSoFar/pseuds/OnTheRoadSoFar
Summary: Din goes to see Grogu at the Temple.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 114





	The Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I know very little of Star Wars, but I am obsessed with The Mandalorian and its characters.

“Look, all I’m asking is a moment with him. That’s all. Five minutes. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

“I am very sorry, sir, but, as I have said, it is forbidden. No outsider may interfere with a student during early stages of training, as there is a chance that this may result in set-backs in that student’s development. Also, the ways of the Temple are sacred to those who live, teach and train here.”

“All right. Fine. I won’t talk to him, then. He doesn’t have to know I’m here. I just need- I just want to see him. Can’t you just-“ 

“I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave now, sir. There is nothing I can do for you. I am sorry. Those are our rules.”

Din had come all this way. Torn up space itself to be here. He wasn’t going to just turn around now and leave. His fists clenched on the counter where they had ended up. He dropped his chin on his chest, as far as the helmet would allow, and heaved a deep sigh, the sound frightfully heavy with the last few days, weeks, months of exertion. 

It made him slightly uneasy, too, this needless secrecy of the Temple’s. He lifted his head again and looked at the warden.

“Where is he? Is he in this building?”

“I am afraid I cannot share that kind of information with outs-“

“Outsiders, yes, I get it. But you see, these are exceptional circumstances. The kid, he-“

“Please leave now, sir, or I will contact security.”

“That won’t be necessary.” A new voice, calm and authoritative, echoed softly across the hall floor, filling the whole of the room with an strange, effortless sense of direction. Din recognized it at once. He closed his eyes for a split second. 

Turning around, he was faced with the vision of the same Jedi he had encountered on Moff Gideon’s cruiser. The Jedi who had taken Grogu away. He was wearing a thick dark robe with emerald details around the neck and shoulders, and his silhouette, framed by the opening of what appeared to be a long, doorless hallway, made him look like an ageless phantom of forgotten times. Din blinked a few times, his eyes presently drawn to the gentle expression on the newcomer’s face. 

“I will take it from here, Toonax. Thank you.”

“Of course. Thank you, Grand Master.” The warden bowed slowly before nodding briefly in Din’s direction and disappearing into an adjoining room at the opposite end of the hall. 

Din only vaguely registered her movements. All his attention was focused on the Jedi. He let go of the counter with his other hand and took a couple of steps forward. The Jedi, immovable, spoke again. 

“I sensed your coming.” Then, “Welcome to our Temple.” Din thought he saw the hint of a smile around the Jedi’s distinguished mouth, but he really couldn’t be sure. He nodded his thanks with hesitancy and was about to speak when the Jedi suddenly lifted one hand with what again seemed natural affability. 

“Please, this way.” 

Din still said nothing. He simply followed the Jedi down the appointed hallway, deep, it would seem, into the heart of the Temple. 

A thick sand-colored carpet muted their steps as they moved quietly through an endless web of passages, sometimes passing a closed door surrounded by dull, blue lights, sometimes a window overlooking large, empty rooms of strange dimensions. The silence of the Temple seeped through Din’s armor unnoticed. He lowered his shoulders and eventually fell in with the Jedi’s long, slow steps. 

“You will forgive your initial reception. The warden was merely following protocol. It is true that we do not allow visitors here. In your case, however, an exception is necessary.”

Din glanced sideways at the Jedi. Necessary? 

When they finally reached a form of anteroom, the Jedi halted and turned towards Din. This time he was definitely smiling. Din was glad that his own furrowed brow was hidden by the helmet. 

“I think it is time we were introduced. My name is Luke Skywalker. I am Grand Master of the Temple of the New Jedi Order.”

“My name is... Din. Djarin. It’s... Nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” There was a long pause it which no one said anything. Din wanted to ask a million questions, and the Jedi - Luke - must have sensed this, because he smiled again with a slight nod of the head.

“Grogu is doing very well.”

Hearing his name, and spoken in the reassuring voice of his teacher, sent a jolt of electricity through the whole of Din’s body, leaving a tingling sensation in his arms and legs. His heartbeat was like faraway drums in his ears, sounding and resounding in the dome of his helmet. 

He wanted to hold the kid again so badly. 

“Yes, very well. As you know, he is exceptionally strong with the Force, and therefore demands a lot of training daily. But he is slowly becoming aware of his responsibilities and faces every task with calm determination.”

Din didn’t quite trust his voice at that moment. Luckily, Luke went on:

“There is one thing, however, which prevents him from harnessing the full potential of his powers. One thing which... Holds him back.”

“What?”

Luke folded his hands in front of him. “He misses you.” 

“Well, I’m... I’m here now.” If Din sounded like he was tearing up, he didn’t care. 

“And I am glad you are. If you hadn’t come of your own volition, I would have send for you.” Then, “Please, through here.”

Luke pressed a few buttons which made a few sounds, and a solid, metal door slid to one side, presenting a small, dimly lit room with a glass wall on the left-hand side. Din followed the Jedi through the opening before stopping abruptly on the other side as if struck by lightning. 

The small, dark room was like a vantage point, its glass wall overlooking a vast room some eight feet below. The other room had a high, paneled ceiling and foreign patterns on its golden walls, like letters and symbols, none of which Din had ever seen before. 

Not that he was looking at them now. His eyes had, instinctively, sought the tiny, little body in the middle of the floor of this great, empty chamber. 

Grogu. Little Grogu. There you are. 

Din couldn’t recall having moved towards the glass at all, nor having put his palm flat against it. His helmet all but touched the pane, too, when Luke suddenly said:

“He prefers to play on his own. If you were wondering why he is all alone down there.”

Din could hardly hear him now over the drums in his ears. 

“You see the little balls he is playing with? Those are his favorites. They remind him of you, he says.” 

Din looked swiftly at Luke. “Says? He... He talks about me?” And then his eyes were back on the kid again.

Luke chuckled softly. “All the time.” 

Neither of them spoke for a while. Din watched as Grogu put down a yellow ball only to pick up a red one. He held it gently in his little hands, his head cocked to one side, and in his head Din heard the soft cooing sounds he knew the child was making. For a brief second, the memory of them took him back to the cockpit of the Crest. Grogu in his backseat, the hum of the engine in the deck, the controls, Din’s chair. The stars, stretching to infinity, before him. The two of them against the rest of the universe. Din longed more than anything to feel that whole again. 

“Din, your bond with Grogu is stronger than any connection he has with the Force. The two are currently at war within him, and until they are united, he can never fully be in control of his powers. It is essential that he is. Din, you must assure him that he is on the right path. I can tell him that he is every hour of every day, and I have, and to some extent he does understand, but until you reassure him that his time here, his training, is vital - until you assure him that you and him will be together again when all this is over - he will not give the training his all.”

Din was silent for minute. “What do you want me to do?”

“Go down to him. Talk to him. Guide him as only you can.” 

Din turned towards Luke and was presently led to an elevator in the opposite corner of the room. The ride down seemed to go on forever. 

Grogu didn’t turn around until the doors of the elevator shut closed again. And as he did, he dropped, or possibly threw, the little red ball and made a sudden, loud squeak that set Din all but running towards him, the dumb clang of the helmet as it dropped to the carpeted floor completely escaping both their notices. 

Din had taken Grogu in his arms before Luke was even halfway to the playpen. Grogu was soft and warm and so small and he kept on squealing and babbling and Din was so sure he heart would burst. In that moment, and all the moments to come, nothing else mattered to him. Not Mandalore, not the Empire, nothing. Only this. 

Din turned his head and kissed the tiny green cheek, flushed pink as it was with excitement. He kissed it three more times until Grogu was giggling and wrestling his way out of Din’s hug. Their eyes met as Din held him to his chest, a grin as bright as a supernova spreading across his familiar features and reaching all the way to those huge, dark eyes. Din felt his own cheeks hurt with how much his was smiling. He wanted to say so many things, to say everything, but all he could muster, in a rough, soft voice, was:

“Hey, kid.” 

Grogu opened his mouth wide, baring his tiny teeth, and stretched out both of his arms to grab Din’s face. The touch of his hands and claws were like water to the dessert wanderer. A single, warm tear at last tickled down Din’s cheek, a tear so very long overdue, and when, for the briefest of seconds, Grogu looked confused and worried, Din immediately stammered: 

“No, it’s okay. It’s just... It’s because I’m so happy to see you. All right? I’m so... Happy.”

He knew that Grogu understood, and he was presently reassured by the child leaning in and resting his head against Din’s chest, those beautiful eyes tightly shut. For the first time since he could remember, Din wished he wasn’t wearing his armor. 

“Din?”

Din had all but forgotten about Luke. Now he turned towards him again, still holding Grogu close. He didn’t really want to face the Jedi, not yet - he just wanted them to be a clan of two again. But things were different now. Grogu’s circumstances had changed. For a little while, Din had been the child’s whole world - his friend, his father, his home. Now he was a Jedi in training. His life was here in the Temple; Luke was his teacher; and he had other teachers, too, and caretakers and perhaps fellow students to talk to and play with. And Din... He knew nothing about what it meant to be a Jedi. He knew nothing about Grogu’s training, what it entailed, what his lessons were like. He didn’t know where the child slept at night, where he had his meals, if he ever went outside. The blue forest surrounding the Temple was beautiful - had anyone ever shown it to the kid? Taken him for a walk there and let him gather its translucent leaves and shimmering cones? Din found himself hugging Grogu even closer.

“Yes?” 

Don’t tell me to get on with it. Don’t make me leave, not so soon. I need more time. Just a little more time. Please. 

“Would you care to stay for a few days? I’m sure Grogu would be more than happy to show you around.” Then, “In a little while, dinner will be served in the Opal Lounge. Perhaps you could take Grogu there?”

Din wiped another tear away before it fell too far down his face. He placed his hand right back were it had rested on the kid’s back before meeting Luke’s gaze again. He hoped his eyes would convey the gratitude he felt, because all he could manage was:

“Yes.” 

Luke smiled, and Din placed his cheek, still wet, on top of Grogu’s head. 

I’ll never leave you again.


End file.
